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Architecture

4140 Park Avenue

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4140 Park Avenue is part of the historic Liggett and Myers Tobacco processing plant that once stood on the northern 3 city blocks of what is now the Botanical Heights neighborhood of St. Louis. The plant played an important role in the western expansion of the city in the post WWI era and the large inward migration into the city for jobs in plants like this and the surrounding neighborhood. By the 1950’s Liggett and Myers had relocated to the south and east and the property served as a mattress factory until 2008 until it was shuttered and has stood empty since this time.

As part of UIC, now Bush Construction’s 150 plus property redevelopment work in the Botanical Heights neighborhood, they purchased this property in 2017 to preserve it for future redevelopment. Plans are now underway to redevelop the building into 64 market rate studio apartments, 25 affordable artist and maker studios, commercial suites, and shared amenities, such as a community room, fitness center, indoor parking, and rooftop deck.

Construction is scheduled to start in 2025 with apartments available in 2026.

Huiskamp-Collins Investments

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Office Construction in Davenport, IA: Huiskamp-Collins Investments

Heidi Huiskamp, founder of Huiskamp-Collins Investments in Davenport, Iowa, had a clear vision. She wanted to create a space that removed the intimidation from financial services and felt more like home than an office. With over 40 years of investment experience and strong ties to the Quad Cities business community, Heidi set out to build an environment where women – and all clients – could feel empowered, supported, and confident in managing their financial futures. To bring this vision to life, she needed a design-build partner who could collaborate closely and deliver on the details.

This office construction project in Davenport, IA came together through Bush Construction’s integrated design-build construction approach. Our team worked alongside Heidi from the start, translating her ideas into clear plans. This streamlined process helped speed up decisions, avoid miscommunication, and keep the project aligned with her goals.

The result is a custom-built financial services office that blends function with comfort. Inspired by the charm of the French countryside, the space features welcoming meeting rooms, a seminar room for financial education events, private offices for client conversations, and shared workspaces for staff. Large bay windows fill the building with natural light, reinforcing the warm, home-like feel that Heidi envisioned.

The new location, less than a mile from the firm’s former office, improves convenience for both clients and employees in the Davenport and greater Quad Cities region. When flooding delayed delivery of custom cabinetry from North Carolina, our team acted fast. We implemented a temporary solution to keep the project moving and maintain the firm’s polished image.

We completed the project on time and within budget – a direct result of strong collaboration and the efficiency of the design-build model.

In Heidi’s words:

“It represents a special way that we will be able to show up for our community, our employees, and our clients, whom we consider to be our family. It is also the culmination of a dream I have had for many years of having a space dedicated to empowering women’s financial futures, serving them and the people they love.”

 

Green House Venture: Urban Agriculture Education Center

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Bush Construction is honored to serve as the design-build partner for the Green House Venture Education Center – a visionary project that blends sustainability, education, and community impact. Located in St. Louis’ historic Shaw neighborhood, this 9,500-square-foot facility is the capstone to the Green House Venture (GHV) campus and a cornerstone for STEM and bioscience education across the region.

As both designer and builder, Bush Construction worked closely with GHV from day one to translate their mission into a dynamic, forward-thinking facility. Every element of the design reflects a shared commitment to hands-on learning, environmental stewardship, and access to cutting-edge agricultural technology.

As Sarah Gibson, Bush Construction’s Director of Design in St. Louis, shared during the groundbreaking ceremony:
“It is one thing to design and build a building, but it is another to rally a community, a city, donors and volunteers behind a vision. Just like planting a garden, many times we see the bounty but forget about the effort it took to get the soil mix right… The Green House Venture has planted seeds over the past several years, spread them widely, and changed planting strategies to benefit the vision and increase the impact when called for.”

The Education Center features:

  • A state-of-the-art greenhouse with aquaponics, vertical farming, and rooftop rain gardens

  • Flexible classrooms and lab space designed for bioscience and nutrition curriculum

  • A demonstration kitchen, multi-purpose gallery, and gathering areas for both students and the community

  • Integrated media technology enabling live-streamed instruction and regional outreach

  • Sustainable infrastructure including solar readiness, rainwater harvesting, and energy-efficient systems

Our team prioritized universal design principles and long-term sustainability throughout—from concept to construction—ensuring the center is accessible, adaptable, and built to serve generations of students.

Slated to open in Fall 2026, this project embodies Bush Construction’s ability to deliver complex, community-centered spaces through a fully integrated design-build approach. We are proud to help Green House Venture bring their bold vision to life and build a platform for future leaders in science, agriculture, and wellness.

Iowa Mutual Lofts

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Bush Construction proudly led the transformation of the former Iowa Mutual Insurance Company building into Iowa Mutual Lofts, a 53-unit apartment complex that blends modern living with historic charm in downtown DeWitt.

Originally constructed in the 1920s, the property has seen several additions over the decades: the 1940s, 1950s, and most recently in 1974, when a three-story building with a parking garage and deck was connected to the original structure via a skywalk. The original two-story building with a basement spans approximately 10,000 square feet per floor, offering substantial space for residential reuse.

As a historic renovation, this project presented a unique challenge: the building’s period of historic significance spanned several eras, each with its own materials, styles, and details. Throughout the process, our team uncovered multiple original architectural elements that required careful restoration or replication, ensuring compliance with historic preservation standards while honoring the building’s legacy.

One of the project’s early goals was to accelerate the renovation of the 1974 building to allow for early occupancy. Despite the logistical complexities of working across two separate structures connected only by a skywalk, our team successfully delivered 15 completed units four months ahead of schedule.

This adaptive reuse project was made possible through a combination of HUD financing, historic tax credits, and support from private investors. Bush’s design, build, and development team have carefully restored the two halves of this building to create a distinct set of apartments that will appeal to a variety of styles.

Today, Iowa Mutual Lofts stands as a tribute to the past, and a vibrant home for the future thanks to the collaboration of committed partners, careful planning, and a values-driven approach to construction.

Kairos Academy High School

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Kairos Academies is a high performing public charter school in St. Louis, serving grades 6 to 12. Founded in 2019, Kairos Academies has a unique teaching method involving a high degree of self-directed work that will enable students for the contemporary work environment they will face as adults. This educational method informs the design of the school’s teaching spaces, which include a higher mix of common and breakout spaces than conventional schools.

Kairos has operated in a leased warehouse space since its start. When it became clear that their ambitious model was delivering great results and they would need a permanent home, they reached out to Bush (formerly UIC in St. Louis) to assist in identifying and developing a new home. Having successfully completed the development of two high-performing charter schools in St. Louis previously, Bush had the experience to help Kairos realize their goals.

Bush’s engagement started with programming and sizing of the project, along with site identification and acquisition. In the spring of 2024, Kairos acquired a 4.5 acre site in the Bevo Mills neighborhood. Bush has created designs to rehabilitate the 100,000 sf existing building on the site into a school that will enable Kairos’ teaching method and allow them to continue to grow.

Bush’s development team is working with Kairos and has helped source New Market Tax Credits along with investments and financing for the projects and will start construction on the project in early 2025.

 

 

Green House Venture

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The Green House Venture (GHV) is an educational and community resource that synergizes the interests of multiple institutions in South St. Louis city in their search for more robust STEM/STEAM education. The Venture brings Saint Louis University together with four elementary schools, each with its own distinctive mission and character –public, charter, parochial, Christian-in a single Urban Education Alliance District. It will offer hands-on learning opportunities for schools in a building that is itself a model for sustainability and urban agriculture. In conjunction with the SLU Salus Center, it will offer outreach and food distribution programs to benefit the community. In addition, the Venture will be a new, iconic building for the neighborhood, demonstrating that green architecture and urban agriculture are not simply trendy or ad-hoc solutions, but vibrant and lasting visions for the future of living in cities.

The 10,000sf facility includes indoor and outdoor classrooms, bio-lab space, a gallery, growing spaces, and office and support areas. The growing spaces include indoor and outdoor areas to demonstrate the potential for year-round food production, and encompass 5 distinct areas: SMOS Dragon’s Garden, a lesson in the remediation of urban land; the main greenhouse and aquaponics gallery for understanding growing in small ecosystems; the hydroponic roof garden, demonstrating the ease of adapting lightweight roof gardens for home use; the courtyard, a series of trellised fruit trees and growing towers; and the embankment garden, a 2-block reclaiming of unused land adjacent to the highway for urban agriculture and native plants.

Botanical Heights

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Botanical Heights is a new name that replaced McRee Town, which at one point was one of the most dangerous urban neighborhoods in the nation. At the time we moved in, the eastern half of the neighborhood had recently been completely torn down and replaced with new housing by a large regional home builder. The western half was assumed to be slated for the same fate; we had a different idea!

Working with a not for profit redevelopment group, the Garden District Commission, which was formed by the nearby Missouri Botanical Garden, we forged a new plan that stabilized the existing building stock and move forward with an ambitious plan for historic rehabilitation and infill building that would re-create a walkable, sustainable, mixed use neighborhood.

To date, our team has developed, designed and built over 40 new homes, dozens of apartments, a facility for Missouri’s top performing charter school, several nationally recognized restaurants and various office and retail spaces. We have guided over $15 million in investments in the neighborhood thus far with another $10 million slated for the coming two years.

The neighborhood has received local and national praise for both the speed and quality of the redevelopment. By working within the context of this long neglected 100 year old neighborhood we have been able to foster a rebirth with the density, amenities, and charm that make city neighborhoods great places to live and work.

Olio and Elaia

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Bush served as design-builder and developer for this new venture by our good friend, chef Ben Poremba. Olio, described as a “grown-up wine bar and eatery,” is located in a former 1930s Standard Oil station that had been covered in plaster and stood abandoned for over a decade. Following a careful uncovering and analysis of the existing structure to determine the original form and brick pattern, we were able to lovingly complete a rehabilitation of this iconic structure. Olio, and its sister restaurant Elaia, are now an important anchor for our redevelopment of the Botanical Heights neighborhood.

Switch Office Renovation

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Switch is a dynamic and multi-faceted St. Louis-based advertising agency that works as both an ideas and branding firm, as well as in event production and fabrication. When Switch approached Bush, they had half of their team in a downtown loft building and half in a defunct strip mall, two miles away, with a desire to bring everyone under one roof by expanding their space in the former shopping center, creating one 90,000 sf office and production hub for the firm.

Our challenge was to find a way to expand what Switch had already begun, while also make a new creative office space in a banal 30,000 sf former office supply store, that would inspire a group accustomed to their cozy loft offices. To do this, we embraced the bigness of the space, creating a dynamic open work area with carefully placed break-out spaces, a game room, a bar, and all of it centered around a winding two-story ramp and amphitheater. This ramp and amphitheater can accommodate a customized tour of Switch’s work for prospective clients, or a whole company meeting, creating a hub that fits their unique culture and style. Our first clue that the team would like the space was the razor scooter races that broke out on the ramp before we could finish construction.

Kairos Academy 9th Grade Expansion

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Kairos Academies, a Saint Louis-based charter school, partnered with Bush Construction to design and build an 18,000-square-foot 9th grade expansion that supported rapid enrollment growth—without disrupting daily school operations.

Delivered on an accelerated 10-week summer schedule, the project was completed in time for the new school year, ensuring continuity for students, staff, and families while allowing the school to grow in a financially and operationally responsible way.

Design-Build Solutions for Enrollment-Driven School Growth

Kairos Academies’ long-term growth strategy required facilities that could expand alongside enrollment while maintaining a strong student experience. Bush Construction provided integrated development, architecture, and construction services, allowing early planning, fast decision-making, and schedule certainty.

By completing design, permitting, and preconstruction in advance, construction began immediately when school recessed for summer—minimizing risk, compressing timelines, and protecting the academic calendar.

Adaptive Reuse that Supports Learning & Longevity

The expansion is located within the historic Concordia Publishing House, an underutilized office and warehouse building already housing Kairos’ middle school grades. Bush Construction helped repurpose existing space into modern, student-centered learning environments—leveraging high ceilings, abundant natural light, and durable materials to balance character, performance, and long-term stewardship.

The project includes:

  • New classrooms and flexible collaboration zones

  • A renovated cafeteria supporting daily student use

  • Gender-neutral restrooms promoting inclusivity

  • Refurbished historic wood block flooring selected for durability and character

These design decisions enhanced learning, visibility, and supervision while supporting the school’s educational philosophy.

Built Around School Operations & Stakeholder Confidence

Every decision—from sequencing to material selection—was guided by three priorities:
operational continuity, budget responsibility, and student experience.

The result was a smooth, on-time delivery that:

  • Supported enrollment growth without operational disruption

  • Protected leadership credibility with families and stakeholders

  • Created flexible spaces that adapt as programs evolve

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